Wall hung shelves



A ril 16, 1963 E. A. PROCTOR WALL HUNG SHELVES Filed Feb. 5, 1962 I NVEN TOR.

United States Patent 3,085,521 WALL HUNG SHELVES Edward Augustus Proctor, 2888 Meadow Brook Blvd,

Cleveland Heights, Ohio Filed Feb. 5, 1962, Ser. No. 171,078 1 Claim. (Cl. 108-27) My invention concerns an improved wall hung shelf involving a wall attachment first piece, carrying a stiffener second piece, the first and second pieces carrying a corner third piece. The corner piece by having both a horizontal surface and a near vertical surface serves the dual purpose of providing a horizontal shelf surface and by havrug a near vertical surface provides a back guard which 1s often referred to as a back splash. The dual purpose corner pieces have ends which will nest one into another, thereby permitting a plurality of the corner pieces to be assembled into one long shelf unit having tightly fitting joints between individual corner pieces which will not be objectionable.

The objects of this invention are manifold.

A first object of this invention is to provide a wall hung shelf which can be installed by an unskilled person such as a housewife without any special tools. A second object 1s to provide a shelf which can be installed in various lengths; and once installed it can be increased in length by adding additional units. A third object of this invention is to provide an economical shelf which can be manufactured by mass production methods with standard manufacturing equipment. A fourth object is to provide a shelf which can be packaged in a small container, convenient for shipping, storage and display; and also being easily transported by individual purchasers on public transportation vehicles. A fifth object is to provide a shelf having tight joints which will not accumulate dust and dirt. A sixth object is to provide a shelf assembly having a snap-on corner piece which will conceal all fastening units such as bolts and nuts.

A more complete understanding of my invention will follow from a description of the attached drawing, wherein like parts are referred to by like reference characters and in which like reference characters refer to like parts; and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a wall attachment first piece.

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view of a shelf stiffener second piece adapted to be attached to the wall attachment first piece shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an isometric view of a snap-on work surface third piece serving the dual purpose of providing a horizontal shelf surface and a vertical back splash surface.

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view of my improved wall hung shelf showing it attached to a wall and showing a cross section of its component three pieces previously shown in detail in FIGURES 1 through 3.

FIGURE 5 is a partial cross sectional view showing an alternate upper edge construction of an alternate wall attachment first piece interlocking an alternate upper edge construction of an alternate snap-on work surface third piece.

My improved wall hung shelf comprises an assembly of preferred first, second and third pieces 11, 12 and 13, respectively, the first piece 11 is a wall attachment piece, the second piece 12 is a shelf stiffener piece carried by the first piece 11. The third piece 13 is a snap-on work surface piece carried by the assembled first and second pieces, 11 and 12. The third piece 13 provides working surfaces 14 and a back splash surface 15.

The first piece 11 cmprises a thin sheet involving holes 16 through which screws 17 attach the wall attachment piece 11, to a wall 18. The first piece 11 has a central 3,085,521 Patented Apr. 16, 1963 first portion 19 between a horizontal top first edge 20 and a horizontal bottom second edge 21. The second edge 21 is transversely bent, fashioning a flanged bottom edge. The top edge 20 as shown in FIGURE 1 is a straight undeformed edge. An alternate top edge 22 shown in FIGURE 5 differs from its counterpart edge 20 by being folded over fashioning a folded edge. The central first portion 19 involves tabs 23- having holes 24. The central first portion 19 also involves an upper first hori! zontal wrinkle 25 and a lower second horizontal wrinkle 26. The wrinkles 25 and 26 each have a wrinkle length along which length each wrinkle has its own uniform section. The first wrinkle 25 serves to secure the snapon work surface piece 13. The second wrinkle 26 serves to produce a spring like quality to the wall attachment piece 11.

The second piece 12 is a shelf stiffener piece comprising a wrinkled sheet having wrinkles 27 extending from a horizontal straight third edge 28 to an opposite horizontal wavy fourth edge 29. The fourth edge 29 involving adjacent holes 30. The second piece is assembled with the fourth edge 29 in contact with the central first portion 19 of the first piece 11. Bolts 31 through holes 24 and 30 attach the second piece 12 to the first piece 11 by use of tabs 23. The wrinkles 27 have a first depth 32 at the fourth edge 29. The depth of wrinkles 27 diminishes from the depth 32 as the wrinkle 27 recedes away from the fourth edge 29 and approaches the third edge 28.

The third piece 13 is a snap-on work surface piece carried by the assembled first and second pieces 11 and 12 as shown in FIGURE 4. The third piece 13 involves a curved central second portion 33 between a horizontal third portion 34 and a vertical fourth portion 35. The third and fourth portions 34 and 35 respectively involve fifth and sixth horizontal edges 36 and 37 engaging the third and first edges 28 and 20 respectively. The third portion 34 provides the horizontal working surface 14 while the fourth portion 35 provides the back splash surface 15.

The third piece 13 has a sixth edge construction 37 involving a folded over portion 38 as shown in FIGURE 3. Inspection of FIGURE 4 reveals that the edge 37, due to the folded over construction, can be pushed downward over the first edge 20 until the edge 37 slips into the upper wrinkle 25 of the first piece 11, whereby the edge 37 is securely locked into position.

The third piece 13 has a fifth edge construction 36 also involving a folded over portion 39 as shown on FIGURE 3. The second piece 12 involves a plurality of slots 40 adjacent to the third edge 28. Inspection of FIGURE 4 reveals that the edge 36, due to the folded over construction, engages the slots 40 when the third piece 13 is snapped into position.

FIGURE 5 illustrates an alternate first piece 41 which also is a wall attachment piece which has an upper folded over edge construction 22 previously described. The alternate first piece 41 does not have the horizontal wrinkles which have been represented by numerals 25 and 26 in FIGURE 1. The alternate first piece '41 also does not have the flanged bottom edge represented by numeral 21 on FIGURE 1. The alternate first piece 41 is attached to wall 18 by screws 17 similar to that shown on FIGURE 4'. FIGURE 5 illustrates also a portion of an alternate third piece 42 which also is a snap-on work surface piece. The alternate third piece 42 has an upper undeformed edge portion 43 engaged by the bent over portion 22 of the alternate first piece 41. The undeformed edge portion 43 differs appreciably from the folded over portion 38 shown on FIGURES 3 and 4.

Although I have mentioned that several shelf units can be installed in an end to end relationship to fashion a long shelf, I have though it unnecessary to illustrate the same in my figures because the construction appears to me to be quite obvious. The thicknesses of various pieces 11, 12, 13, 41 and 42 have been exaggerated in order to better illustrate the various constructions pictorially.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention hereinafter claimed.

I claim as my invention:

A wallhung shelf comprising in combination first, second and third pieces, the first piece providing Wall attachment means which carries the second piece providing shelf stilfener means, the combined first and second pieces carrying the third piece comprising a snap-on work surface piece providing working and back splash surfaces, the first piece comprising a vertical thin sheet involving holes engaging screws providing an attachment of the first piece to a wall, the first piece having a central first portion between a horizontal top first edge and a horizontal bottom second edge, the second piece comprising a References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 38,799 Francis June 2, 1863 1,727,032 Guignon Sept. 3, 1929 1,860,760 Wittemann May 31, 1932 1,908,200 Webster May 9, 1933 2,105,206 Stophlet Jan. 11, 1938 2,118,465 Grose May 24, 1938 2,229,888 Fraser Ian. 28, 194-1 3,028,975 Bullock Apr. 10', 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 475,139 Great Britain Nov. 15, 1937 

